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School leaders need to provide teachers with what is needed most to rise to the challenge of implementing the Common Core State Standards -- collaborative learning time, writes Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond. In this guest blog post, she cites the recently released survey data on remodeling literacy instruction from the National Center for Literacy Education. "It found that in schools where educators report that professional collaboration is routinely practiced, trust among all educators is high, and new learning about effective practices is shared much more rapidly," she writes.

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Tests are not required to implement the Common Core State Standards, Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond said in this interview. Darling-Hammond, a member of the Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment and Education that is overseeing the implementation of the common core, said in this interview some states are implementing the common core without attaching high-stakes tests that are often used for the wrong purposes. "The testing paradigm will have to evolve to engage students and teachers with the right work, and we should use the results to inform the continued improvement of the curriculum and the design of professional development," she said.

The Common Core State Standards may be controversial, but many Wisconsin schools are moving forward with implementation. Jennifer Cheatham, superintendent of Madison Metropolitan School District, says the new standards represent a significant improvement. Emilie Amundson, Common Core State Standards team director for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, agrees, noting that the previous standards were very general. "We now have an expectation as to what children should learn and be able to do," she said.

Groups representing district leaders and the heads of some educational groups are calling for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards to be delayed or altered. Among them are Sandy Hayes, president of the National Council of Teachers of English, who recently sent a letter to organization members in which she supports a moratorium on testing and lists five alternatives to high-stakes exams that could improve literacy learning. They include supporting teachers' literacy knowledge, promoting collaboration among educators and investing in effective professional learning.

School leaders need to provide teachers with what is needed most to rise to the challenge of implementing the Common Core State Standards -- collaborative learning time, writes Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond. In this guest blog post, she cites the recently released survey data on remodeling literacy instruction from the National Center for Literacy Education. "It found that in schools where educators report that professional collaboration is routinely practiced, trust among all educators is high, and new learning about effective practices is shared much more rapidly," she writes.

Teachers will be able to successfully implement Common Core State Standards if they are given the resources any learner needs to acquire new knowledge, high-school social sciences teacher Mark Sass writes in this commentary. Those resources, Sass writes, include ample time for learning and collaboration, sufficient feedback, and the opportunity to struggle with the standards -- to take risks and make mistakes.